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Credit: Nancy Lane

This could be a life-altering week for Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler.

According to a source, several teams have expressed interest in the high-profile restricted free agent. However, Butler thought he would be a “Patriot for life,” and his preference is unquestionably to make it work with the team that plucked him out of West Alabama and aided his ascension in the league.

But if another team will offer Butler a fair-market deal, he’ll jump at the opportunity to get paid. The 27-year-old learned a hard lesson about the business side of the NFL last week when the Patriots signed Stephon Gilmore, so Butler will now prioritize his finances more than ever.

As a restricted free agent, Butler can sign an offer sheet with another team until April 21, and the Patriots would have five days to match it. If the Patriots decline to match the offer sheet, they’ll recoup that team’s first-round draft pick in 2017.

Butler’s name has also been linked to trade rumors. Whatever happens with Butler, whether it’s an offer sheet or a trade, don’t be surprised if it happens as early as this week. The source didn’t expect this process to drag out until April 21 but also stressed a longterm return to the Patriots by a matched offer sheet isn’t out of the question.

The real question: How did it get to this point?

The Patriots offered Butler around $6-7 million annually last season, according to a source. With Butler on the books for $600,000 in 2016 and his $3.91 million first-round tender in 2017 ($4.51 million over two years), it’s fair to point out the Patriots were offering Butler a sizeable raise with the parameters of that extension. Still, that offer wasn’t anywhere acceptable for Butler, who hoped to be paid like a top-10 cornerback. Last season, Aqib Talib of the Broncos and Sean Smith of the Raiders were tied for the 10th highest average annual value at $9.5 million, so it can be presumed that’s what it would have taken for the Patriots to reach a long-term agreement with Butler.

According to the source, the Patriots also told Butler they wouldn’t pay any cornerbacks that type of money. (Darrelle Revis, who earned $12 million in 2014, was the exception, but consider his credentials.) Butler understood the message, raised his performance level in 2016 and didn’t cause any locker-room disruptions.

But it stung Butler last week when the Patriots signed Gilmore to a five-year, $65 million contract that included $40 million in guaranteed money. There’s no denying Butler was ticked off upon hearing a free agent landed the most lucrative contract Bill Belichick has ever doled out, especially when it was his understanding, according to the source, that the Pats had no intentions of hitting $10 million annually for any corners.

That frustration soon subsided, but Gilmore’s deal will have ramifications. Butler has no plans to hold out this season if he remains a Patriot under the terms of the $3.91 million tender, and it would be out of character to protest his contract behind the scenes. It’s important to highlight that distinction, as employees can both wish for more money and still be productive members of the team.

But while Butler probably would have accepted something last year in the neighborhood of $9.5-10 million annually, that possibility is almost certainly out the window at this point, at least with his Patriots-related negotiations. The thinking is Butler wouldn’t accept anything less than what Gilmore landed, or an acceptable deal would have to be comparable.

That all leads to the significance of the next month and a half. Butler is free to negotiate with other teams, and discussions are already ongoing, said the source. It’s difficult to forecast Butler’s value as a restricted free agent because of the draft-pick compensation, and Laveranues Coles was the last player with a first-round tender to switch teams when the Redskins plucked him from the Jets in 2003.

Butler may still garner an offer of at least $10 million in average annual value from another team, and AFC foes like the Steelers, Dolphins and Raiders all have the necessary cap space and late first-round picks to make it happen.

Those negotiations are a total wild card, though. If Butler accepts an offer sheet ($40 million over four years, for example), he’d still be happy if the Patriots match it to keep him around. But it’s unclear what type of financial package Butler would accept until his market fully materializes. As is the case in unrestricted free agency, competing teams are the only ones who can truly shape a player’s market value. And then it’d be up to the Patriots to decide if they’ll match or take the pick.

Until the past week, it didn’t seem like it would ever get this complicated with Butler and the Patriots. The coming days may decide the next chapter of his career.